Claimed
by Lucifer Rosemaunt
Summary: ErikRaoul slash. The alternative to crazy, possessive!Erik in Lingering Ghosts. The fluff without the dark. Erik thinks of another way of claiming Raoul as his. Good times are had by all.


Fandom: Phantom of the Opera  
Disclaimer: Please don't sue. I don't own *insert fandom name from above*... All I own is an overactive imagination.  
Summary: The alternative to crazy, possessive!Erik in Lingering Ghosts. The fluff without the dark. Erik thinks of another way of claiming Raoul as his. Good times are had by all.  
Warning(s): slash   
Pairing(s): Erik/Raoul  
Word Count: 1,805

A/N: I pretty much fail at life (and multi-chaptered fics), but at least I still do one shots.  
Story note: This is my Thanksgiving fic. At least this one's early, if not part of the reason why the More than Friends chapter 4 hasn't gone up yet, so don't be too mad at it. Since I couldn't leave the last one shot the way it was, here's another one with the sort of same theme. If Erik's OOC in this, then he is. D: I personally call it, "the one where Erik gets overbearing and kidnapping right."

o.o.o.o

Claimed  
By: Lucifer Rosemaunt

o.o.o.o

Still half asleep, Raoul rolled over, startled, before promptly falling out of the bed. He disregarded the jolt of pain as he hit the floor in favour of clutching his hands to his ears. It did little to block out the atrocious wailing that had not only succeeded in waking him up from his slumber but was also making his ears ring. The acoustics of the room only served to amplify the sound.

Using his elbow, he clumsily managed to lever himself up onto his knees. He blew at the hair covering his face, wisps of blonde strands only rising to fall back down over his eyes. Scanning the room, he noted that he was alone, which meant that the potential threat would be neutralized well before it reached their bedroom. He was just making it to his feet to investigate the source of the noise when it suddenly stopped. He froze, waiting for it to ring again, but the only thing that continued to ring were his ears.

While he was still indecisive as what to do next, Erik walked into the room, completely nonchalant. His gaze went from the blankets on the floor to Raoul's disheveled form before raising an eyebrow. He fought hard to hide his grin, barely managing to keep his voice even as he commented, "I'm surprised you're awake."

Pushing the hair back, Raoul scoffed. "You're surprised I'm awake?" He let out a sharp bark of laughter. "You're surprised I'm awake." He frowned and poked Erik on the chest. "Of course I'm awake. What was that noise?"

Frowning down at the finger still poking his chest, Erik paused to school his features. He glanced at Raoul, "Oh that."

Raoul glared at him.

"It's one of the newer alarms I set." Erik shrugged, grabbing Raoul's hand before gently pushing it towards the blonde.

"What did you do? Kill a cat?"

Erik smirked.

"I don't even want to know." Raoul started, "But… No," he shook his head more firmly, "I really don't want to know. I'm going back to sleep." He had a knee on the bed and was crawling back towards his side of the bed. Before he could get far, Erik grabbed him around the waist and dragged him back to the edge. He heard Raoul muttering profanities interspersed with tangents on sleeping, paranoia, and dead cats.

Only pausing for a moment to let his head hang in defeat, Raoul turned around so that he could sit at the edge of the bed before Erik got any ideas.

"Don't go back to sleep," Erik coaxed. His firm grip on Raoul's biceps declared a similar sentiment without the entreaty audible in his tone.

Raoul sighed loudly. "It's cold, Erik. You asked me to visit; so, I visited. You asked me to stay; so, I stayed. You didn't ask me to wake up early though; so, I'm going back to sleep."

He made no effort to move though. Erik finally did release his hold only so that he could sit, one leg bent under him, the other planted on the ground so that he could look at Raoul easily. He leaned forward to kiss Raoul's jaw line, taking a deep breath in of his scent. "But you're up already," he whispered huskily, and Raoul felt all traces of annoyance leave him. He could feel Erik's grin, smug in the knowledge that he'd won this battle.

Refusing to give in so easily, Raoul nudged him far enough so that they could look at each other. "You set off that alarm on purpose, didn't you?"

"I can assure you," Erik grinned, "that I had nothing to do with that alarm." Seeing the suspicious look Raoul was giving him, he frowned and quickly added, "I think you're right. Let's go back to sleep." He looped an arm around Raoul's waist and forcibly dragged him to the middle of the bed – Raoul had long since resigned himself to being manhandled by the ghost; for some reason, he couldn't seem to get Erik to stop using force to make him move. Once there, Erik tried to pull the blanket over them, but Raoul sat up, stubbornly loosening Erik's grasp of him.

He shook his head. "What did you do?" Erik had looked entirely too smug; it never boded well for the opera house or him. "You didn't kill anyone, did you? Oh God," Raoul looked towards the lake. "Who set off the alarm? What did you do?" He was ready to stand up and go find out for himself, but Erik refused to let him get far.

"Why do you keep insisting I did something?" Erik had a put-upon expression, but Raoul knew it was for show.

"Don't lie to me," Raoul grabbed a pillow to put between them, loosening Erik's hold without having to constantly struggle with him. "Why did you ask me to stay last night?"

"I can't request that you stay?" Erik actually did sound hurt, but Raoul simply fixed him with another look. If he was indeed hurting Erik's feelings right now, he could apologize for that later, but if he was correct in his suspicions, then it would be best to confront him as soon as possible – for both their sakes.

Erik pursed his lips before laying back, hands pillowing his head. "I saw you two days ago," he stated evenly.

"Two days ago?" Raoul repeated. "At the performance?" He couldn't remember anything significant occurring.

"Yes." Erik nodded, looking away while he continued, "I saw you speaking with that woman."

It dawned on him; Raoul should have realized it sooner, in fact. "The one the managers introduced me to." Letting out an exasperated sigh, he pointed out, "I thought we talked about this. I'm not going to do anything, but I cannot be rude to them. You know that."

"I do," Erik conceded. "This is the _fifth _time though. It was time."

Raoul's eyes widened. "It was time for what?" He asked hesitantly, fearing it might be one of those situations that he truly did not want to know about.

Erik sat up and reached for him, who deflected his touch with the pillow. "No one's dead," he assured.

Raoul rolled his eyes. That hardly assuaged his fears. "Just tell me what you did already so I can do damage control."

Erik shrugged. "Nothing that shouldn't have been done sooner." He tugged on Raoul's sleeve.

Raoul staunchly refused to lie down.

Erik sighed and pulled a letter from his pocket. "I thought you'd be this uncooperative," he said as though he were so used to yielding to Raoul's will; Raoul tried not to roll his eyes. "So, I wrote a second copy for you to read."

Taking the letter, Raoul read it once, again, and then a third time. His expression was carefully neutral. When he finally looked up from the letter, he asked calmly, "_This _is what you sent to them?"

Erik nodded, slightly worried at Raoul's reaction. He'd been expecting more expletives and yelling. He rather enjoyed seeing Raoul in such a state – now, after the managers' general obedience, Raoul was the only reason he acted as he did in regards to accidents occurring in the opera house. He was both impressed and disappointed with his new sense of control. Before he could even fully finish that thought, Raoul suddenly grabbed the pillow with both hands and dove at Erik, trying to smother him.

Through the pillow, Erik heard a quick series of muffled questions.

"What were you thinking? I thought we'd agreed that it would remain a secret?"

Erik struggled against Raoul. He wasn't actually suffocating just yet but Raoul definitely wasn't jokingly holding the pillow against his face.

"Why would you even do this?"

The letter drifted forgotten to the floor.

_Dearest Managers_

_You have done quite well as of late regarding the running of the opera house. The new trombonist has been exemplary, the singing quite improved, and the dancing superb. I see the new dancers are to all our liking. As such, as you have recently noted, there have been very few incidents occurring._

_However, you seem to have forgotten the most important rule. This opera house and all occupants within it are mine. It has come to my attention that you have taken a keen interest in my patron's romantic life. You will desist. He has not been and will never be your concern. Until you have learned this important lesson, he will be kept under my care. I shall return him relatively unharmed._

_Your Obedient Servant,  
OG_

Erik finally managed to wrench the pillow off and Raoul stopped trying to kill him. He laid bonelessly on top of Erik, breathing hard and staring balefully at him. His hair draped forward, long enough to brush against Erik's cheeks.

"I didn't say anything of our relationship," Erik commented, unable to keep from grinning.

Raoul pouted. "You implied."

"They'll think since I'm miserable," he reached up to hold Raoul against him when he felt the Vicomte shift, "that I simply do not want you to be happy either."

Raoul shook his head. "It's not that simple."

"It is." Erik assured. He reached up with his other hand to sweep half of Raoul's hair behind his ear, holding it there himself. "What other qualms do you have?"

"The alarms that were set off?" Raoul eyes flicked towards that general direction.

Erik let Raoul's hair fall before brushing it back again, loving the feel of the smooth strands as they cascaded through his fingers. At Raoul's annoyed look, he answered. "Their rather poor attempt at rescuing you."

"None dead." It wasn't a question, but Erik answered anyway.

"Unless I managed to unintentionally frighten any of them to such an end." Erik couldn't help but roll his eyes. They all over reacted to his presence, but it hardly mattered. It was usually to his benefit anyway.

Raoul sighed and Erik knew the argument was nearing its end. "_Your _patron?"

"That," Erik pointed out, "I am certain we both agreed upon as true."

Raoul couldn't help but smile at his rather self-satisfied demeanor. "And you only asked that I stay down here for the sole purpose of continuing with your plan."

"I _kidnapped_ you," Erik emphasized, "because I wanted you with me."

Raoul leaned down for a quick kiss.

"And we should not forget the 'relatively unharmed' phrase in the letter," Erik added.

"Oh we can't forget that. You seek to harm me?" Raoul asked, amused at the thought since he'd never seen Erik this content in his life. There was slim chance of Erik wanting to hurt him.

"Let us say," Erik tugged at Raoul's hair playfully so that he would lower his head again, "that I do not think the managers will learn their lesson before you're thoroughly… sore."

o.o.o.o

End ficlet

A/N: Don't forget to R/R (Read and Review)!  
Chapter Review: See, no angst. That's definitely something. Oh, and as I requested in my blog… if you guys have any songs that remind you of Erik/Raoul as a pairing, I'd love to hear it. I'm in the market for new music.


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